First Landing - Columbia 1981
- 00:05:19
- YouTube
First Landing - Columbia 1981
STS-1 COLUMBIA Pad 39-A 1st Shuttle mission 1st Flight OV-102 Crew: John W. Young, Commander Robert L. Crippen, Pilot April 14, 1981, 10:20:57 a.m. PST, Runway 23, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Rollout distance: 8,993 feet. Rollout time: 60 seconds. Landing Weight: 194,184 lbs. Sixteen tiles lost and 148 damaged. Large crowds gathered around the Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards AFB to see the first landing of the Space Shuttle Columbia on April 14, 1981. I had just purchased a Sony HVC-2010 and SL-3000 and knew that if I shot from where the viewing area was the shuttle would be a speck, so, I decided to chance it and drove up to the first check point which was the air force -- the gate keeper was cool and told me I could park a few hundred feet in, which was closer than the viewing area, but I had to stay put so he could watch me. Wow, I was now on the base. I sat there with the engine still running and then, I just sped off heading north! I saw a sign that said "Rocket Road." That sounded good to me so I kept on going. Suddenly I came across large chrome "Ball" maybe it was a tracking station, and men in white uniforms came out and asked me what I was doing back there? I told them I was a newsman and was lost. One of them said "Well you're on the right road just keep going and you'll reach the gate onto the lake bed." The other guy said, "But you had better hurry up- they're closing up the road any minute." I drove slowly around the northeast side of the lake bed and to my surprise when I got to the lake bed gate no one was there and the gate was wide open! I sped onto the lake bed, it was just one hour before the shuttle was to land. I parked just south of the Italian news crew! A very cool shoot indeed!
YouTube | February 15, 2007
